©1997, ProMotion, inc.
www@bookpage.com
Review by Laurie Parker
Readers who enjoy well-written mysteries involving complicated, intelligent, independent characters such as John Sandford's Lucas Davenport, Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, and James Lee Burke's Dave Robichaux can add another book to their list of must-buys: John A. Miller's Cutdown. Miller won national acclaim last year for his debut work, Jackson Street and Other Soldier Stories, and with this first novel proves that he is just as masterful in the long form as he is in the short.
Cutdown introduces Claude McCutcheon, a sardonic, iconoclastic Vietnam vet and lawyer who works his own hours and takes on only the clients who interest him. He has made a simple yet comfortable life for himself in the San Francisco area and is mostly successful at keeping his demons at bay, though they still populate his nightmares. (Readers of Jackson Street will recognize some of McCutcheon's memories from those stories, though Miller has expanded on them in fleshing out his character for the novel.)
McCutcheon's well-constructed life is disrupted when he becomes entangled in the search for some stolen documents belonging to the Northwestern Lumber Company. These are more than mere company records -- they contain the answer to a mystery that stretches over time and distance, from Rommel's North Africa to the POW camps here in the U.S., from the virgin forests of the Pacific Northwest to the back streets of San Francisco where no tourist dares venture.
The parties involved are each desperate to gain possession of the papers before the others find them. At least one person has died because of the information contained in the papers, and McCutcheon doesn't care to be the second. In a situation in which a lover might turn out to be a murderer and the truth might best be kept hidden, McCutcheon's survival depends on his using his wits, instincts, and sense of personal honor to sort out ally from enemy and friend from villain.
In addition to McCutcheon, Miller has created another of the most compelling characters in recent suspense fiction -- A.G. Farrell, the small-town sheriff turned professor. In Cutdown, the relationship between Farrell and McCutcheon is reminiscent of that shared by Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee: one is more bookish and thoughtful, having seen and learned much over the years, while the younger is more dynamic and impulsive.
While far too many mystery novels are constructed around the flimsiest of circumstances, the scaffolding on which Miller hangs his plot is strong and well crafted, and his ability to bring together elements which at first seem wildly disparate delights the reader. Miller also has the foresight to end this story neatly while leaving his reader in anticipation of the next book in the proposed series. With Cutdown, Miller introduces us to Claude McCutcheon, but wisely leaves us eager to learn more about the past and future exploits of this intriguing new anti-hero.
Laurie Parker is Marketing Manager for LSU Press and an avid reader of suspense and mystery novels.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.